The Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England and advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has thanked staff during a visit to Lincoln County Hospital.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam took time out of his busy schedule to officially open a new gastroenterology day case suite on Dixon Ward.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust Chief Executive, Andrew Morgan, said: “This has been an amazing opportunity for our gastroenterology team to talk to Professor Van-Tam and show him how they have not only managed to achieve a £1million transformation of their ward during the pandemic, but also how they have created a new gastroenterology day case suite which will benefit so many of our patients.”
Professor Van-Tam was also shown around the hospital’s new
purpose-built urgent treatment centre which opened earlier this month where he met staff from Lincolnshire Community Health Services (LCHS) NHS Trust.
He also got to visit a new £2million specialist respiratory unit that is being built to help treat patients with COVID-19 and other respiratory conditions.
Professor Van-Tam told staff: “Thank you for everything you have done during the COVID pandemic. It has been so
difficult and so challenging and this is something you will remember for the rest of your careers. We now have a big job on to get the country back to normal and the health service back to normal and you are still a very vital part of that and so good luck and thank you again.”
Andrew added: “It has been great for our teams to welcome Professor Van-Tam back to the hospital where he worked and trained as a junior doctor.
“We were able to show him some of the multi-million pound improvements we have made on the site in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that will provide the best possible environments for our teams to treat patients, both now and in the future.”
